The BBC is reporting that one of its reporters has discovered public documents in the British National Archives that state that Britain helped the Israelis get a large amount of heavy water that was key to the Israeli's nuclear weapons program. The Guardian also has a report up. According to the BBC, Britain had a surplus of some 20 tons of heavy water which had been purchased from Norway. When Israel was informed by Norway about this very valuable surplus, The Israelis approached the British. The British agreed to (on paper, anyway) return the heavy water to Norway where it could be purchased by Israel. In fact, the British loaded the heavy water directly onto Israeli ships in British ports.
The British took pains not to inform the American government which had been demanding safeguards to assure that any nuclear technology sold or given to Israel was to be used for peaceful purposes. It appears from the documents found so far that lower level civil servants were involved and there has been no evidence found as yet that indicates any cabinet level officials were aware of the transactions.
The French designed and built the nuclear reactor for Israel and have always claimed that it was built to help power irrigation projects in the Negev desert. Norway has also been blamed for helping the Israelis and the Norwegians put forth the same defense. Now it is known that the British helped, also.
My reaction is, so what? Who, besides the Islamofascists, can possibly blame Israel for moving heaven and earth to acquire any weapon that would help them to protect their country from the constant threat of invasion and destruction by the combined Arab armies that surrounded it? The fact that Israel has an estimated 130 nuclear weapons does not give me one second's pause. I would tend to worry more about the French, actually.
TAGS: Israel, nuclear weapons, heavy water, Britain, France, Norway, Islamofascists
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